THE NATION (Bridgetown, Barbados) 06 May 06 Snakes on the loose (Mavis Beckles)
But look how the Bajan people getting on over the runaway snakes though, nuh?
The people getting on like them never see or hear 'bout snakes in Barbados before; wha' from the time I come along I was hearing 'bout the different types o' snakes that live here.
Whaâ hey Ting, we always had snakes.
To be truthful, I have never actually seen a lot of the ones that does crawl around on their bellies in the bushes or in trees, aw'right? But I have certainly seen some o' them in the zoos overseas.
But I gine tell ya, duh got some very weird people 'bout here who find snakes to be very cute, even beautiful. I have seen people wearing them round their necks in crowds and doing a lot o' foolishness like jumping at people and t'ing.
The truth is I have always wondered what they eventually do with these reptiles once they grow to full maturity. That can't be funny at all, and I believe that that is when these so-called snake lovers release these big-able snakes into the wild.
The skin of the snake is useful too because I have seen some people with snake skin bags, belts, and they even have the necklaces and bracelets made from the eyes of snakes.
The other thing I have heard 'bout these snakes is that they shed their skin. I mean, they actually crawl out of their skin, leave it behind and crawl 'long like nuhbody business, with a whole new fresh-looking layer o' skin.
Anyway, to get back to the ones in Barbados, I hear that some people saw them in St James, St Peter and in the bushy gullies; I also hear that it got people up in them places where people say they saw them, frighten as France.
Them don't even want to venture outta their houses after dark for fear that they might come face-to-face with a reptile of this kind.
I hear that one of the runaway snakes is an 18-foot boa constrictor, the ones that does wrap round a man and squeeze the daylights outta he, then swallow he up . . . and you could imagine that he 'pon the loose? Another one they say is a python, that he ain't poisonous. But who the hell cares if he poisonous or not?
He is a flipping snake, and them ain't things that I want to come face-to-face with. But suppose you had even come face-to-face with one of these snakes, you think that he gine look at you and tell you to relax because he ain't poisonous? I tell ya!
Look, I don't even like lizards, to be truthful. I can't stand them, especially the ones that does come out at night – them white ones. Lord them does give me the creeps, and look, speaking 'bout lizards, nowadays I have been seeing some big, thick, long, brownish-striped lizards with some long tails; them does frighten the daylights outta ya, and you talking 'bout snakes? I don't want to see no flipping snakes round me, hear?
I want to see them in a cage, in a zoo. Not in my backyard, aw'right?
We all know that it ain't got one thing to do with the Government because it ain't the Government who introduced these reptiles into this island.
The lizards is one thing. Them would most likely come in with lumber or things like that, but the other big reptiles like snakes come in through a lot o' lawless people who don't see the danger in their short-lived pleasure.
So I hope that the Government would jump in somehow and help the people who out there trying to catch these snakes.
Snakes on the loose